125 Bands Performing During Milford's Porchfest

MILFORD, CT — There are 83 locations with 125 performances in this year’s Milford Porchfest.

Milford Porchfest is set for Saturday, Sept. 9, from noon to 6 p.m. in several porches and lawns across Milford.

“We moved the event up from where it used to be in the first week of October because we wanted to extend the summer vibe,” Jeff Einig, Porchfest Director, said. “The night before, we are having a kickoff event at Lisman’s Landing with Hawkins French and Milford’s popular band, the Rum Runners, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.”

Einig said they are continuing the Purple Pantry box donation they did last year.

“We will be gathering nonperishable food items and donations for the Purple Pantry via Venmo,” he said.

It takes a group of dedicated volunteers to bring Porchfest to Milford. This year, Einig said they have 18 people on the committee who take various aspects of the planning to make Porchfest a reality.

“It’s a lot of work to bring this to the community,” he said. “We have a new mission statement this year: to make Milford a better place one note at a time.”

Milford Porchfest has six zones: Walnut Beach/Wildemere, Silver Sands/Fort. Trumbull, Downtown, Point 2 Point and Woodmont.

Einig said they have 20 percent more performances booked this year than last.

“We were super excited that we had that many bands that wanted to join, and it well exceeded our expectations,” he said.

Last year, they had 104 performances booked, and this year, 125 performances booked.

“We try to have a diverse musical experience so there’s something for everybody,” he said. “We have a musical trio that a fifth grader leads. She’s in charge of the entire band. Then we have musicians who have been playing together for decades.”

Einig said they are working on a map so people know all 83 locations in Milford.

“It will be available a few days before the event,” he said. “It will be available on our website as well as our Facebook page and we will send a notification on Instagram.”

During Porchfest, Einig said many houses are hosting one band, some are hosting two bands and several are hosting more than two.

“One thing we did do differently this year is we are limiting our performances to 90 minutes,” he said. “The idea of the event is to have people move between homes, meet new people and listen to new music.”

Einig said many of the zones have food trucks.

“In the zone I’m in, we are having an Italian Food Truck and an Ice Cream Truck,” he said. “Everything is on people’s personal property, whether that is the food trucks, the band, the people and in some cases porta potties.”